Minhaz makes Dhaka pay

Minhazul Abedin once again portrayed his tenacity as born fighter when the chips are down.

The Chittagong skipper hammered a brilliant 108, his second ton in the National League, against Dhaka to guide his side to an impressive total of 284 for nine at the end of the first day's play of the their three-day match at Comilla yesterday.

After Chittagong clinched the first-ever National League title the affair only left academic interest.

The experienced middle-order bat led a spectacular recovery operation with veteran Enamul Haq after the port city outfit was reduced to 146 for five.

Dropped thrice, Minhaz struck twelve fours in his 187-ball knock. The former national captain scored his first ton, 113, against Barisal exactly a last month ago. A leading run scorer Minhaz raised his aggregate run total to 535 from eight matches, averaging 59.44.

While Minhaz led his side from the front in what was supposed to be billed a grudge match, his Dhaka counterpart Aminul Islam was a study of striking contrast.

The national captain, who scored a lone fifty in the League, skipped the final engagement.

Star-studded Dhaka, who lost their first leg match against Chittagong at Mymensingh, finished a distant third behind Sylhet.

In the absence of Aminul, his deputy Khaled Mahmud led a demoralised Dhaka. Acting skipper Mahmud had Chittagong on the ropes courtesy of his spin duo of Mukul and Sanwar who made good use of the turning pitch.

Off-spinner Sanwar gave Chittagong a scare by sneaking one through the defences of Akram Khan on 18. But Dhaka's success ended at that point with the Enamul's arrival.

Enam, who played the perfect foil scoring a gritty 86-ball 46.

For Dhaka off-spinner Mukul captured three wickets giving away only 41 runs in his 21 economical overs. Sanwar returned with two for 42 in his 16.4 overs. Discarded national right-arm seamer Saiful also took two wickets for 35 runs.